Rail-anchor



A. L. STANFORD.

RAIL ANCHOR. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1. 1920.

Patented July 20, 1920.

fir/x72 2223222; 121% ARTHUR L. STANFORD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAIL-ANCHOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, 1920.

Application filed March 1, 1920. Serial No. 362,474.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR L. STANFORD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Anchors, of which the following is a specification.

In the construction of rail anchors it is essential that the anchor device be of such simple construction that it may be easily and cheaply manufactured, and its structure must be such as to admit of its being readily applied to the rail by unskilled labor and without the use of special tools. F urthermore, it must be so constructed that it will be closely held and gripped to the rail flange in such a way as to withstand the vibration incident to the passage of trains, for which purpose it is highly desirable that a certain amount of spring tension be maintained upon the gripping jaws to compensate for vibratory effects. It is also highly desirable that some form of nut lock be employed in connection with the gripping jaws so that there will be no tendency for the nut to reeede and thereby relieve the stress on the jaws which is essential in order to maintain them in gripping position.

The object of the present invention is to secure the results above outlined, and also to increase the gripping effect of the jaws by the use of some hard granular substance like sand or emery, which will increase the friction of the gripping surfaces, thereby augmenting the gripping effect and complementing the wedging action secured by the driving of the anchor to gripping position.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the anchor, and showing the rail base in section;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 8 is a top or plan view of the same;

Fig. 4; is a longitudinal sectional View showing the inner gripping faces of the jaw member; and

Fig. 5 is a detail showing the spring clip washer which engages the rail flange on the side distant from the gripping jaw member.

The rail anchorconsists of a jaw member 10 provided with a depending forwardly projected foot 11 adapted to contact a tie 12 at a point considerably below the'base of the rail. The contacting face 13 of the foot is rounded, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to contact the flange at but a singlepoint X, the arrangement being such that the rail anchor as a whole will be subjected to a rocking tendency as the rail develops a tendency to creep forward in the direction indicated by the arrow. The jaw member is grooved or channeled on its inner face to afford an upper gripping face 1 1 and a lower gripping face 15, which converge inwardly, the upper face being obliquely disposed to conform to the obliquity of the upper face of the rail base. In order to increase the gripping effect, some hard abrasive substance, like sand or emery, is applied to the upper and lower gripping faces, as indicated in Fig. 4, which abrasive substance may be made to adhere thereto by the use of some thin adhesive preferably impervious to the action of water, so that when the jaw is driven to place on the rail the abrasive substance will be interposed between the engaging surfaces and tend to increase the friction available for the prevention of rail creeping. In lieu of the use of such an abrasive adhering to the surfaces, the upper jaw member may be provided with a series of holes or openings 16, preferably inwardly tapered from both sides, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3, into which sand or other abrasive substance may be poured, and these openings cooperate with pockets 17 formed in the lower jaw for the reception of a similar substance. Obviously both methods of employing the abrasive may be utilized, as indicated in Fig. 4, although these features may be dispensed with in case the increased gripping effect is not deemed essential.

The body portion 18 of the upper aw member is elongated longitudinally of the rail, but at the rear end the material on the upper and lower faces is cut back, as indicated by 19, so that the gripping surfaces are restricted and do not extend throughout the entire length of the jaw member.

In order to adequately reinforce the structure as a whole, the forward transverse flange 20 is provided, which merges into and forms in effect the continuation of a foot, and this cross flange is backed and reinforced by a longitudinal upper flange 21 and a longitudinal lower flange 22, each of which is of tapering formation and extends back to and merges into the body portion on opposite sides thereof. In addition to the above reinforcement, the front flange is provided with a rear outer rib 23 near its outer edge, which serves to strengthen and reinforce the structure at this point.

The gripping jaw member has inwardly projecting therefrom a connecting bar 24:, V

which diverges at its connecting end to provide a pair of diverging end ribs 25 whlch merge into the structure of the jaw member, and the other end of the bar 2a is threaded at the point 26 to receive a nut 27 having a flange 28 on its inner face. The nut flange bears against the outer face of a split ring clip 29 provided on its split upper side with inwardly projecting fingers 30 which overlie the rail base, and in conjunction constitute in effect a clip for holding the gripping jaw snugly in position on the opposite side of the rail. The split ring clip is formed of spring steel and is normally given a slight twist or spirality, the free ends being sprung out of plane with one another. Asthe nut is turned up, it will flatten out the split spring clip and thereby maintain the gripping member under spring tension and at the same time maintain the nut under spring pressure, the clip thus serving the double function of a nut lock and a spring element for the gripping jaw.

In use,.the anchor is inserted by driving the gripping member to place upon the rail base, after which the nut will be turned up and the parts thus held in spring tension against the vibration tending toward displacement. The connecting bar 24, nut and spring clip, subserve no function in resisting the rail creeping tendency, and the sole function of these features is to prevent retraction of the gripping jaw member so that there is no necessity for providing heavily reinforced members on the clip side of the rail, and these parts can therefore be made of comparatively small dimensions and relatively light material, although the spring clip should be of sufficient thickness to. afford a comparatively heavy tension and at the same time provide clipping fingers sufficiently strong and rigid to insure a firm engagement with the rail base. 7

IV ien the rail tends'to creep, the contact of the foot 13 at the point X will tend to rock or cant thejgripping z aw forwardly in a vertical plane, the structure as a whole constituting in effect a lever fulcrumed behindthe point Y, which is the essential point of rail engagement. By limiting the grippin contact to that portion of the jaw which lies immediately behind. the point Y, this tilting or canting tendency will be effective in increasing the gripping action of the aw as a whole, and for this reason it. is deemed desirable tocut away the gripping surfaces at-the extreme rear end of the aw member andto confine the gripping effect to the areas indicated, since an undue extension of the gripping surfaces would mitigate against the effectiveness of this tilting or tipping tendency. By providing an abrasive material of harder texture than the surfaces of the rail and W, the tendency will be for the abrasive particles to embed themselves with in these surfaces, thereby increasing the friction and at the same time preventing displacement of the abrasive particles.

The surface configuration of the gripping jaws should be such as to afford a close wedging fit against the upper and lower faces of the rail base, and the gripping memher when driven to place should be capable of fully effecting the grippingaction above described without any assistance derived from the tension afforded by the bar Qi, which bar is employed primarily for the purpose, of compensating against vibratory action, which would tend in time to release the gripping member if such vibratory ac- 7 tion were not compensated.

The device as a whole is of extremely simple formation, and can be readily applied by the use of a sledge and a wrench and without the use of special tools or appliances.

I claim: 7 v p 1. In a rail anchor, a rail gripping menr ber provided with jaws adapted to embrace the flange of a rail, a cross connecting member, a split ring clip having fingers adapted to overlie the opposite edge of the rail base, and means bearing against theouter face'of the split ring clip, substantially as described.

2. In a rail anchor, a rail gripping inember provided with jaws adapted to embrace the flange of a rail, a cross. connecting member, a split ring clip having fingers adapted ber-provided with jaws adapted to embrace the flange of a rail, a cross connecting member, a split ring clip having fingers adapted to overlie the opposite edge of the rail base, and a nut bearing against the outer face of the split ring clip, the rail gripping jaws being surfaced with an abrasive material,

substantially as described, I

4. In a rail anchor, a rail gripping member provided with jaws adapted to embrace the flange of a rail, a cross connecting member, a split ring clip. having fingers adapted to overlie the opposite edgeofthe rail base, and a nut bearing against the outer face of the split ring clip, the split ring clip being normally distorted and adapted to be compressed under spring tension by the action of the nut, the rail gripping jaws being surfaced with an abrasive material, substantially as described. 7 V I I 5. In a rail anchor, the combination of a rail gripping member provided with jaws adapted to engage the upper and lower faces of a rail base, the rail gripping surfaces terminating at a point forwardly of the rear end of the jaw member and the rearward extension afiording a reinforcement for the jaws, a depending foot adapted to contact a tie at a point below'the rail gripping jaw, and means for holding the rail gripping jaw in position on the rail base, substantially as described.

6. In a rail anchor, the combination of a rail gripping member provided with jaws adapted to engage the upper and lower faces of a rail base, the rail gripping surfaces terminating at a point forwardly of the rear end of the jaw member and the rearward extension affording a reinforcement for the jaws, a depending foot adapted to contact a tie at a point below the rail gripping aw, a cross connection underlying the rail base, and a clip carried by the cross connection and engaging the opposite edge of the rail base, substantially as described.

7. In a rail anchor, the combination of a rail gripping member provided with jaws adapted to engage the upper and lower faces of a rail base, the rail gripping surfaces terminating at a point forwardly of the rear end of the jaw member, a depending foot adapted to contact a tie at a point below the rail gripping jaw, a cross connection underlying the rail base, and a clip carried by the cross connection and engaging the opposite edge of the rail base, said clip being of split spring ring formation distorted from its normal plane, and a nut adapted to bear against the split spring clip and flatten the same in forcing the clip against the edge of the rail base, substantially as described.

8. In a rail anchor, the combination of a jaw member provided with a longitudinally extending body portion, a foot depending from and forwardly projecting from the body portion and adapted to abut a tie, a cross flange merging into the foot and into the body portion, upper and lower backing flanges interposed between the cross flange and the body portion, the body portion be ing channeled to afford gripping faces of less longitudinal extent than the body portion, and means for holding the gripping member in place upon the rail base, substantially as described.

9. In a rail anchor, the combination of a jaw member provided with a longitudinally from and forwardly projecting from the body portion and adapted to abut a tie, a

cross flange merging into the foot and into the body portion, upper and lower backing flanges interposed between the cross flange and the body portion, the body portion being channeled to afford gripping faces of less longitudinal extent than the body portion, a cross connection underlying the rail base, a split spring clip carried by the cross connection and distorted out of its normal plane, and provided with fingers overlying the rail base, and a nut bearing against the outer face of the split spring clip for flattening the same and forcing the same against the edge of the rail base, substantially as described.

10. In a rail anchor, a gripping member provided with upper and lower gripping jaws surfaced with abrasive material of harder texture than the material of which the jaws are composed, substantially as described.

11. In a rail anchor, a gripping member provided with upper and lower gripping jaws surfaced with abrasive material of harder texture than the material of which the jaws are composed, the upper jaw being provided with openings to permit the in-' flow of the abrasive material, substantially as described.

12. In a rail anchor, a gripping member provided with upper and lower gripping jaws surfaced with abrasive material of harder texture than the material of which the jaws are composed, the upper jaw being provided with openings to permit the inflow of the abrasive material, and the lower jaw being provided with cup-shaped recesses for the reception of the abrasive material, substantially as described.

13. In a rail anchor, a gripping member provided on its gripping surface with abrasive material of harder texture than the material of which the gripping member is composed and secured thereto by suitable adhesive material, substantially as described.

14. In a rail anchor, a rail gripping member provided with jaws adapted to embrace the flange of a rail, a cross connecting member, and a springclip engaging the opposite flange of the rail and normally distorted from a true plane, and means bearing against the outer surface of the spring clip for compressing the same under spring tension against the rail base, substantially as described.

ARTHUR L. STANFORD. 

